June 1849; Comstock, Texas: A train of five wagons, owned by a Dr. Lyons and Nat Lewis of San Antonio, left El Paso in late June 1849 headed for home. Among the thirteen men in the train were Ben Sanford, Emory Givens, John Crowder, Charley Hill, Jerry Priest, Charles Blawinsky, Nick Andres, and men named Brown and McDonald. John L. Mann, who had been along the route several times, served as guide. Eight men on horseback rode along with them, but at Devil's River these men left the slower wagons and rode on. This brought the party's number back to thirteen, which some of the men considered a bad omen.
Deadman's Pass, north of present-day Comstock, Texas, a band of Comanches allowed the riders to go through, waiting for the slower wagons. Mann saw a lone man in the road far ahead, but he thought it was one of the riders and no cause for alarm. Walking in front were Priest and an unnamed blacksmith. The latter was apparently of unsound mind; the others thought he was crazy, but harmless. When the wagons reached the pass, the Indians attacked from both sides of the road. Priest ran back to the others, but the blacksmith just stood in the road. He was killed in his tracks.
Brown, an old Indian fighter, calmly stood by his wagon and fired, knocking a warrior from his horse thirty yards away. A bullet fatally struck Brown. Blawinsky, whom the men called "Polander," fought near Brown and was also mortally wounded, Some men from the next wagon ran out and pulled Blawinsky back with them. Andres climbed into the wagon bed and was about to shoot over the rim when a bullet hit him in the throat and killed him, An unnamed old man who was with Andres picked up the dead man's gun and ran to the next wagon, but he went down with a bullet in the knee. Crowder and Givens were both wounded in the arm. Mann took a minor wound when a bullet tore through his hat and grazed his scalp. During the fighting, the Indians ransacked Mann's wagon, stealing his best rifle. The warriors also captured the wagon in which Andres lay and took the dead man's scalp.
The Indians besieged the wagon train's survivors until about two in the morning. When the defenders began to hear fewer shots, Mann expressed confidence that the Indians were running out of ammunition and assured his companions that the rest of them would all survive. Sure enough, the Indians pulled off about 400 yards, built a fire, and roasted the beef from Mann's wagon. At daylight they were gone. Though Charley Hill, walking up a hill to see if the raiders had left, was chased back to the wagons by four mounted warriors, no further damage was done. About 9 a.m. seven mounted Mexicans riding in advance of a small wagon train appeared. When Mann explained the situation, the Mexicans combined their train with Mann's to form a secure corral. They readied for another attack, but none came.
The Mexicans sent a rider north and up Devil's River to a detachment of soldiers at Beaver Lake. The soldiers arrived the next day and took up the Indians' trail, but they never caught up with them. Two wagons were lost in the fight, a few oxen were killed, and several animals were stolen. The four dead men were buried at the pass.
